Includes bibliographical references (p. [276]-298) and indexes.

"Introducing the fundamental issues in psycholinguistics, this book explores the amazing story of the unconscious processes that take place when humans use language. It is an ideal text for undergraduates taking a first course in the study of language.

Topics covered include the biological foundations of language; acquisition of first and second languages in children and adults; the mental lexicon; and speech production, perception, and processing.
Structured as an engaging narrative that takes the reader from an idea in the mind of a speaker to its comprehension in the mind of the hearer.

Reflects the latest empirical developments in psycholinguistics, and is illustrated throughout with examples from bilingual as well as monolingual language processing, second language acquisition, and sign languages.

Student-friendly features include chapter-by-chapter study questions and discussion summaries; the appendix offers an excellent overview of experimental designs in psycholinguistics, and prepares students for their own research.

Written by an internationally-regarded author team, drawing on forty years of experience in teaching psycholinguistics." (Publisher's Website)

CONTENTS:

Prologue

Chapter 1 Beginning Concepts

Chapter 2 The Nature of Linguistic Competence

Chapter 3 The Biological Basis of Language

Chapter 4 The Acquisition of Language

Chapter 5 The Speaker: Producing Speech

Chapter 6 The Hearer: Speech Perception and Lexical Access

Chapter 7 The Hearer: Structural Processing

Chapter 8 Remembering Sentences, Processing Discourse, and Having Conversations

Epilogue

Appendix: Experimental Designs in Psycholinguistics

References

Name Index

Subject Index